Hug - to clasp tightly in the arms, especially with affection; embrace.
to cling firmly or fondly to; cherish:
The other day I was reading a post from a pretty famous dog trainer and she stated how great it is to hug dogs. And, when dogs are not fans of her hugging she works at making them okay with being hugged. I thought this was surprising coming from a dog trainer who should know better. Not just that she should understand that hugging is not generally desired by dogs but promoting it is very misleading.
So of course I felt the need to write about the subject of hugging dogs. Most dogs do not enjoy being hugged, they learn to tolerate it. Some dogs hate it and will signal to the person who is hugging them. Most folks are not dog savvy and will not notice or pay attention to these signals that the dog is giving them.
NEVER, EVER HUG A STRANGE DOG
You should never, ever hug a strange dog. But it is not only strange dogs that fall into this non hugging thing. Many pets of our own are not fans of being hugged. Although there are a few dogs who adore hugs from their inner circle family. Example: Elsa adores hugs, she cannot get enough hugs and kisses from her inner circle. She adores affection and touch from her family and friends who are not on the inner circle. She clearly displays her lack of love for being hugged from people other than her inner circle family members. She isn’t aggressive or mean about it, she simply pulls away with a head turn. My rule is no hugging for anyone out of her circle.
Even dogs who seem to LOVE hugs like my Elsa; differ in what she likes and dislikes, all hugs are not equal. A hug from below accompanied with petting is great; while a hug from the top which is just a tight embrace, not so much.
Riggs on the other hand is quite the combination guy. My strict “no hugging” rule is even more strict with Riggs. He is not comfortable being hugged in general but enjoys a loose type closeness immensely from his very tight inner circle (Mom and Dad). I experiment with him a lot and he is a huge display dog. So whatever he is feeling, you can see it.
Many dogs who have learned to tolerate hugging from their family will pull away when being hugged. You can totally feel it if you are paying attention. This is the biggest problem, because most people don’t read dog language and the fact that many people like being hugged is what they rely on. But, our dogs are not humans, they are dogs and hugging is not something that most dogs do naturally.
When we hug a dog we take away their ability to move away. The range of how uncomfortable a dog becomes when hugged is vast. It depends on who is hugging, and how and where they are hugging the dog. Just because a dog does not growl or snap when you hug them does not mean that they are enjoying it.
Instead of teaching a dog to accept a hug; let’s teach people not to hug dogs.
If you have to hug your own dog; pay very close attention to what is and is not accepted and respect that. My rule for strangers and anyone outside of myself and my husband is NO, no hugging, especially children. I have a very strict rule with my Grandchildren and they are reminded constantly. Some of them don’t care that they cannot hug the dogs but some keep trying. This is why there must be 100% supervision with dogs and children.
I know that I will get a lot of people commenting that their dog loves when they hug them. But do they really? Hugging in front of a mirror or video taping a hug will tell you the truth. Many subtle signals are given by dogs that we humans just miss completely.
Touch is another thing that I want to talk about, this is the next blog. If you’d like to read about greeting dogs, I talked about that on my last podcast. Click here to listen to my Just Dogs with Sherri podcast.
The article below is a great read
I would LOVE to see your hugging videos.